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Finals Week -- Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 20A

34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they
gathered together, 35 and one
of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your
heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as
yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and
the prophets.”

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them
this question: 42 “What do you think of the Messiah? Whose
son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David by the
Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

44 ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
“Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

45 If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?” 46 No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did
anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

***************

If you’ve been to college, or even
experienced high school, you likely know the meaning of the words “Final’s Week.” That’s the dreaded week that papers are due
and major tests are given. If you’re lucky your professor won’t give a
comprehensive test, but only one that covers the material presented since the
last test. Looking back to the tests I gave as a professor, I didn’t put
greater wait on the final that the other tests.
I did, however, require students to take and pass the final in order to
pass the class.

As Matthew’s story nears its end the tension has risen. Jesus
is now teaching in Jerusalem, and his opponents are close at hand. In other
words, it’s “Final’s Week” and lots of tests are being given. Interestingly enough, while his political and
religious opponents are putting him to the test, Jesus turns the tables on them
and gives them tests as well. You might
say this has become a “test of wills.”
As the stories pile up, it seems that Jesus is coming out better in his
tests than his opponents in theirs.

The passage for the week begins with
an acknowledgment that the Sadducees had failed in their attempt to flunk
Jesus. Now it was the Pharisees turn.
They send a lawyer to Jesus, and the lawyer asks him to name the greatest
commandment. Which commandment is most
important? You would think that the
lawyer would come up with a more difficult question because every Jew knew the
answer, and so as a good Jew Jesus would have to know the answer. The answer is found in the Shema, which
declares that there is only one God (a declaration omitted in Matthew) and that
one should love God with one’s heart, soul, and might (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). It shouldn’t surprise us that Jesus was fast
with his answer – though in Matthew might is replaced by mind, following the
Septuagint.

Then he adds a second commandment – one that had not
traditionally been linked to the Shema – “you shall love your neighbor as
yourself.” This second commandment draws from Leviticus 19:18. Jesus declares that upon these two laws, which
he raises to near equal status, are the basis for everything else found in the
Law (Torah) and the Prophets. In other words this is the essential message of
Judaism as Jesus understood it: You
should love God with your entire being, and your neighbor as yourself. There is both the vertical and the horizontal
axis upon which faith is founded. Thus, Jesus
heard the question and answered appropriately, passing his final.

Digging deeper it is appropriate to
ponder the relationship of the two commands.
It seems clear that the two commands organize the Ten Words or
Commandments. The first table focuses on
the relationship with God and the second table the relationship within the
community. Whatever we read in the Ten
simply expand what we read in the Two.
You might even call them commentary.
But then this wasn’t really a
new insight. Jesus was simply showing he
understood the Torah! If he understands
the message, what about you and me?

I
have long seen the two commandments as being two dimensions of the Gospel
message. As noted above there is the
vertical -- the relationship one has with God – and the horizontal – the relationship
one has first with the church and then with the larger world. Both dimensions are needed – the vertical and
the horizontal. They provide
balance. Focusing on only the vertical
makes us “so heavenly minded that we’re of no earthly good.” Focusing on the
horizontal, our relationships with one another, cuts us off from the power
source that allows us to go deeper in relationship and expand outward into the
community. To fully be a follower of
Jesus we need both.

Having answered their question, Jesus
has a question of his own for his inquisitors. This question is a tough one. It requires
significant theological reflection to answer.

Remember how Jesus had been hailed as Son of David as he
entered the city (Palm Sunday)? Not
everyone was pleased. In fact that event led his opponents to up their
opposition, lest Jesus bring the wrath of their Roman overlords down on them.
It was clear that Jesus was a threat to the status quo. To hail him as Son of
David or Messiah had political implications. The people were calling for him to
take over the country – to reinstate the Davidic kingdom that had come to an
end with the exile centuries before. But
is this how Jesus understood his mission?

In posing question, Jesus asks the
questioners to define the true identity of the Messiah? In other words, whose son is he really? Is there a one to one connection between the
Messiah, the one whose coming many awaited, and David? What Jesus was doing was asking them to
consider what kind of person the Messiah would be? If the Son of David, would he be a warrior
king who would drive out the Romans and set up an earthy kingdom? It’s clear that many hoped that Jesus was
that one, but his message didn’t fit that scenario. In posing his question, Jesus sets the stage
by quoting from the Psalmist and noting that the Psalmist, who is presumed to
be David, calls the Messiah Lord. If,
therefore, the Messiah is Lord of David, how can he be David’s son (Psalm110:1)? It’s just not logical. It’s not the way things are done. So maybe
the Messiah is David’s son, but someone else’s?

It is important to remember that Matthew starts the Gospel
with the statement that Jesus, the Messiah, is the Son of David and the Son of
Abraham. Is Matthew contradicting
himself, but having Jesus set aside the relationship to David? Or is he expanding the notion of Messiah by
looking further back to Abraham (Matt. 1:1)?
How would the mission change if Jesus understands himself to be son of
Abraham? As son of David, the nature of
his messianic realm is that of an earthly kingdom composed of Jews, but as the
son of Abraham he is the bearer of blessings to the nations – that is, he
brings hope not just to Jews but to Gentiles as well (Genesis 12:1-3)? In posing his question Jesus is expanding
their understanding of the Messiah, by demilitarizing it. There were many messianic pretenders who took
up arms against Rome. They would all fail – and in the end – Jerusalem itself
would be destroyed as a result. But
Jesus’ realm transcends these attempts to simply restore an earthly
kingdom. That doesn’t depoliticize it;
it simply changes the nature of the politics.
It’s not about gaining political power over one’s enemies, but rather
learning to love one’s neighbor as one’s self.

So there is for us a final test question. It has to do with our own sense of vision of
God’s realm. How narrow or how expansive do we envision it to be? Is it simply about gaining power? Or is it about bringing the blessings of God –
that is reconciliation – to all? It is
important to keep in mind that Jesus achieves his mission, not by staging a
military coup but by going to the cross and in doing so conquers the very
powers of death that are arrayed against us all.

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I am a Disciples of Christ pastor, theologian, community activist, historian, teacher. I'm a graduate of Fuller Theological Seminary with a M.Div. and a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. I'm the author of a number of books including
Out of the Office: A Theology of Ministry (Energion, 2017), Marriage in Interesting Times (Energion, 2016), and Freedom in Covenant (Wipf and Stock, 2015).